In a perfect world everything fits into its place. But sometimes, just sometimes, you find that the square peg/round hole syndrome is alive and well. This label was first created in 2011, when a few barrels that were designated to be the famous Kiss Shiraz didn’t quite make the cut, and a few barrels of Sweetwater vineyard Shiraz likewise just didn’t quite match that wine’s style.

With tongue in cheek, we affectionately referred to these ‘left-over’ barrels as the “Lips and Arseholes”, and blended them together to create quite an exceptional Hunter Valley shiraz. The wine was extremely well received, so it was decided to continue the label in subsequent vintages by making an actual barrel selection for the blend.

Deep in purple-garnet colour, the wine is vibrantly aromatic in its red berry, savoury and earthy perfume. It shows great concentration of dark berried fruits, with a taut tannin profile that extends right through the length of the palate. The wine feels svelte in the mouth, tightly wound, and with a decant or time in the glass, shows even more of its seductive personality.

Drink 2016 to 2026.